Malkin saves the season

Not going to lie, we had a huge hate post written up basically writing off the rest of the season barring some sort of drastic action taken by Ray Shero. Down 3-0 against Tampa Bay at home, we almost turned the game off. But then Evgeni Malkin put the team on his back at stole the Pens a point.

Sidney Crosby's knee isn't right. Take that to the bank. He's pushing through, but one can tell he isn't himself. So someone had to step it up. Which leads us to the title of the post; did Malkin just save the season? Down 3-0 going in the third. Against a weaker team in the standings, at home. Facing a goalie in his opening NHL start that was in a groove. Down three points (at the time) to the playoff chase--with the rest of the teams in the chase having more games in hand. If the Penguins rolled over and died, better believe that's about the picture wrap on the season.

So how do you measure MVP? Caps fans are already forming their arguments--and with good reason--Alex Ovechkin has more goals than anyone in the league and is setting the tone for what will probably be record wise one of the best teams in the first 82.

But....

2 goals, 1 assist (all in the 3rd period), 7 shots on goal (with two more missing the net and two getting blocked), a takeaway, a blocked shot and 4 hits...One that knocked a key defenseman out of the game. That, folks, is an MVP performance. Sure the Penguins are still outside of the playoff bubble and it's hard to win the trophy if you don't lead your team to the second season that over half of the league makes, even if Malkin retains his 17.9% point advantage over AO.

But....

Remember this night. Remember this performance. If, as this editor thinks, it breaks the floodgates for the rest of the team and the Penguins rally from here, then you will know.

Other thoughts:

• This was one of the most physical games of the season. Former Pens Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts each recorded seven hits a piece. Tampa had 42 total on the night. Even Steven Stamkos got into the act with a heavy hit.
• And before you get too far down on Stamkos, allow us to present you with these two season statlines....55 games, 3 goals, 4 assists; 82 games, 13 goals 15 assists...Those are the 18 year old NHL seasons of Joe Thornton and Vincent Lecavalier respectively. Sure, they were both in the pre-lockout days where the game was a little tighter--but the point is just because phenoms like Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin hit the ground running they're still very much the execptions, and not the rule.
• Malone's goal in front of the net showed the grit and skill that Pittsburgh has frankly been missing without him. Can't fault a guy for getting paid, but boy if he were still in the black and gold it's hard to imagine the Penguins struggling as much as they have been. Apologies to Marian Hossa (who's not having a shabby season himself) but Malone's presence on and off the ice might be the biggest loss the Pens suffered from all the ballyhooed player movement.
• 0-6 to start the powerplay for the Penguins on the night, including a 5 on 3 for a full two minutes. Ryan Whitney isn't making solid decisions back there. It's not all on him of course, but Sergei Gonchar (46 PP points last season, only one off of Alex Kovalev's 47 for the entire league) will help so much.
• After being outshot 14-5 in the first period, the Pens--outshot nightly seemingly every night--turned it around and won the last three frames a combined 27-10. The frantic comeback helped, the sense of urgency was finally there.

And take a deep breath, the Pens live to fight another day.

Malkin and Ovechkin bury the hatchet?

The very compelling blood rivalry between Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin may have reached an understanding with this weekend's all-star festivities in Montreal. After all, the two definitely have more in common than any friction that's cropped up in recent months.

From Ovechkin's twitter*:

Doing all kinds of interviews. Had a chance to talk with Malkin too

Then about two hours later AO updates with..

Getting ready to have some sushi - interviews are all done for today. Check out pictures of me and Malkin online - we took a lot, I'm su

(It really does cut off there)

Still we can't help but wonder: if the two young guns were really were on friendly terms, wouldn't Ovechkin call him by his Russian nickname (Zhenia) or even his American nickname of Geno? He refers to him as "Malkin" twice, which still seems kind of distant.

Then again, maybe we're just reading too much into it.

Still, keep your eyes open for whatever interviews, quotes and pictures come out from Ovechkin and Malkin over this weekend...What's the Russian word for detente?

*confirmed as legit

Pens choke out the Ducks

Last night was sort of a look if the Penguins hadn't had won the 2005 draft lottery...And while it wasn't pretty, they got just enough to win...And hey, they got through the game with only one player getting knocked out with injury, so that's a plus.

• Obviously with Sidney Crosby's injury it all starts with Evgeni Malkin. Geno stepped it up, he did uncharacteristically well in the faceoff circle (8 of 14), was credited with the Pens only two takeaways, three shots on net and two assists. He also played 24:25 and only one other forward played more than 20 minutes.
• Matt Cooke really ate his Wheaties. The Penguins were playing a gritty, nasty, "not pretty" type of game, fitting right into Cooke's philosphy as well. And his goals (whipping shots on net, spinning bodies around) were a good reflection of a job well done.
• In our recap we predicted a lot of minutes for Ryan Whitney and Brooks Orpik. After Orpik left the game early with an injury, Whitney must have taken a deep breath and said "here we go". Whits got a game high 29:39 as he picked up most of the slack and did well.
• From the things you don't see everyday file: Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer combined for a -4.
• Chris Minard registered a team high five shots on goal and looked the most comfortable he ever has in the NHL. One gets the feeling if he keeps chipping at it he's going to breakthrough. The question is, can he make the most of the opportunity before forwards return from injury and time runs out.
• And how about Hal Gill with his first goal since March 16, 2008? That's a 60 drought (including the playoff run). It was a perfect example of the Penguins mentality: just get the puck to the net whenever you can. Credit Jordan Staal for the faceoff win and Gill for unleashing the rocket.

So an important two points in the Penguins pocket but also the confidence to know that when they play well and buckle down defensively they are good enough to compete and beat any team in the league.

We noted that the five game stretch before the All-Star game could be pivotal in the season. The Penguins are now 2-1 in the highlighted segment. Now if they could just show up for an afternon game...

Pens lose to Caps

At the end of the day the Penguins let too many early chances go…Sidney Crosby had a breakaway but couldn’t score. Jordan Staal came down on a 2 on 1 and was rebuffed. On and on, so it goes.

--Rob Scuderi caught a shot in the face and was obviously out for the game. Dropping to five defensemen for the rest of the night on back to back games may not be an excuse they’ll use, but it looked like it took it’s toll.

--Hold your breath on the Crosby injury front, looked like Sid was in a lot of pain. Hopefully we’ll hear something today and it will be good news…Remember with the All-Star break the Penguins only play three games in the next 13 days.

--For the chances the Penguins failed on, the Caps seemed to put them in. There were certainly no shortage of weak calls (for both teams) to give each other’s power-plays chances to separate. Credit the Caps on this night for doing that.

--The Malkin/Ovechkin angle is fascinating. We can’t remember two players so good just going after each other so personally. It elevates both of their games too, with three combined goals on 22 shots. This could be the angle of the Olympics, how the two countrymen interact and coexist.

--You still get the feeling this team is missing that certain something, but what is it? Sergei Gonchar can do a lot of things, but playing the wing is not one of them. Ray Shero’s inactivity is starting to hurt the team. No one wants him to make a move just to make a move, but at some point he’s gotta step up to the plate and make something happen. Is it fire the coach? Is it shaking the team up with a trade? Hey we don’t have the answers, but “do nothing” seems to be the wrong one. The season is slipping away.

--Finally, eye rolls on Ted Leonsis taking swipes at the Pensblog and then follow up by tooting his own team's blogosphere for being "sophisticated". (Side note: we still can't find the page in the sophistication manual where it says you can call someone a clown?) It's doubtful he'd be crowing like this if the Penguins had won yesterday. But the Caps carried the play so give the man his day.

Still, it's the Pensblog, what do you expect? They "job" everyone all the time, themselves included. The Pensblog is like a juvenile George Carlin--it's profane, it's shocking, it's loud. Japers Rink is like a hip network news show that's always a good read. Both are excellent in their own regards, but they have different ways and different methods. There's no shortage of analytical, even-handed Penguins blogs that offered accounts of the game that Ted would have found a little more mature, but it seemed like he wanted to target the Pensblog and get off a shot while he could at an entire fanbase while he was at it. Classy indeed.

Big time win

After being in such a rut and in a tough environment the Penguins dug deep and played well. Taking two points from a divisional opponent is huge. Especially Philly.

• The Penguins played a perfect 1-2-2 system for the first half of the game. They were pretty patient, they laid back and didn't force the issue too much. In short, it looked like they were listening to the coach's adjustments to buckle down and play smart, not at all like a team that is out doing there own thing.
• Was the crowd often chanting "Crosby sucks!" or "Cote sucks". Maybe it was just our Center Ice feed but what is the Philly organ guy doing playing that rhythm in the first place? The standard Flyers chant is the riff that the Rangers use, so shame on the Flyers people for drumming up vile directed towards one player.
• Not that it bothered Crosby, with his two assists and several other great chances along the way.
• Paul Bissonnette had a good night back in the show too, albeit in brief work. Biz Nasty worked over Aaron Asham in a fight and threw a puck to the net that Tyler Kennedy got into the net for a huge first goal for the Pens.
• Matt Cooke stepped into a tough role as the other guy of the Crosby/Evgeni Malkin line and did very well. Sure the forechecking and physical prescence is a given but obviously the conversion for the go-ahead goal helps. And Cooke made a terrific play on a 2 on 1 with Crosby; after Sid fed him the puck Cookie passed it back right on the tape for a slam dunk. Apparantely 87 is too acquainted with the likes of the playmaking abilities of some of his previous linemates like Andy Hilbert, Ryan Malone, old ass Mark Recchi, Colby Armstrong and Pascal Dupuis because Sid didn't finish.
• 25:34; that's the time on ice that your third star of the night Kris Letang had. Of course he had 5 powerplay minutes but Letang is gobbling up minutes at even strength as well. The next step for the young defensemen? Getting those heavy shots that are going *just* high onto the net.
• It looked like it could be another one of those nights for Marc-Andre Fleury after Simon Gagne's hard dump in jumped over his stick and right to Mike Knuble for the game's opening goal. But credit Fleury for settling down and the Pens defensive effort to help steady the ship for a 27 save on 29 shot performance.

Now back to home for a huge game against Alex "Dead wood" Semin and the suddenly slumping Capitals. Of course more on this tomorrow.

Interesting stats at the half-way mark

--Evgeni Malkin is on pace for 126 points. Last year Alex Ovechkin netted 112 and in Sidney Crosby's year he got 120. Malkin's on pace for 96 assists which would be the most since Wayne Gretzky cracked a hundy in 1991.

--Malkin is ten points up on Ovechkin in the scoring race. Since the lockout the margain of victory by the Art Ross winner over the second closest scorer has been 6, 6 and 2.

--And just think what happens when Malkin (goal-less in nine games, without a PP goal since November 15th) gets heats up in that category.

--To what should be the surpise of no one, Eric Godard is #1 on the team in penalty minutes...But #2 (Crosby) and #4 (Malkin) on that list is strange.

--Brooks Orpik has 151 hits, good for second in the league to Boston's Milan Lucic (154). Thanks to an injury to Anton Volchenkov, Orpik is also in 1st place for the unofficial "black and blue" trophy with 234 combined hits and blocked shots. Columbus' Mike "Make it Rain" Commodore is second in that category with 200.

--Reliable Rob Scuderi is 5th in the league with 102 blocked shots.

--Not surprisingly with the long-term injuries to Ryan Whitney (22:26 TOI last season) and Sergei Gonchar (25:54) have seen some defensemen pick up some serious minutes. Kris Letang jumped from 18:09 of ice-time last season to 21:32 over the first half of this season. Brooks Orpik went from 16:57 last season to 20:40 this year. Rob Scuderi has seen an extra 1:22 per game this season and Alex Goligoski has been playing 18:41 (he played 13:56 per game in three games last season).

--Marc-Andre Fleury is one of the players looking forward to turning the page on the first half of the season; he's given up 68 goals in 24 games so far this season, while the entire last season he only surrendered 72 goals in 35 games. Hopefully for the Penguins though, Fleury will play well more than 11 games the second half of this season.

--In a moment to take a look on the bright side; Jordan Staal hits the midpoint with 21 points, whereas he only had 28 the entire sophomore slump last season.

--Pascal Dupuis and his rocket-laser slapshot have nine goals, but if he only doubles it 18 still won't be a career high; as Dupuis somehow hit 20 in 2002-03, the height of the trap happy Minnesota Wild.

--No idea if this is a a record or what, but Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have combined for 114 points (in 82 combined man-games played). Every other skater to wear a Penguins sweater this season has 167 points (in 656 combined man-games played). The difference in points per game ratio is 1.39 points/game for the Big Guns to .25 points/game for everyone else.

--Malkin and Crosby scoring 41% of all points scored by Penguins is a little skewered, of course, since they receive all the power-play time they can handle and often times assist on each other's goals or assists.

Put the Pens in the Southeast..

Is it too late to petition realignment to the Southeastern Division? Pittsburgh, geographically, is more "eastern" than Atlanta and Tampa is, and techincally is closer to the Mason-Dixon line then it is to the Atlantic Ocean. You think Bettman would buy it? Yeah probably not, but the Pens feasted on Atlanta anyways (they're 3-0 against the T-bombs this year) to snap out of so many nasty streaks. Ok, that aside

--One of the more interesting developments is how short the Penguins fuses have become. Sidney Crosby famously jumped a guy over the weekend, but Colby Armstrong takes down Ruslan Fedotenko on a relatively normal play and Rusty challenges him to fisticuffs? Fedotenko's had three fights in his career with two of them coming in the past three weeks....And maybe he should think of not fighting again, as he appeared to hurt his hand after one-punching the prominent proboscis on Army's face.

--When you're in a slump (to say nothing of a slump of epic proportions), everyone preaches just getting the puck to the net to score an ugly one. And while the Penguins did look to get traffic to the net and get some point shots through, it's still amusing that the slump buster—a hard cross-ice pass in the zone from Ryan Whitney to Petr Sykora who redirected it-- was about the furthest thing from being ugly goal as you could get.

--A lot of people wondered if Sidney Crosby fired up his teammates, we’ll leave it to you to answer that, but we think he’s certainly gotten himself fired up. El Sid averaged 3.08 shots on goal over the first 39 games of the season. In the two games following Fight-Night 2009 he’s got 6.50 shots a night. It’s admittedly a small sample size but it is reflective of how he has cranked his intensity up a notch. And the work he’s doing in his own zone (winning faceoffs, taking pucks away, intercepting passes, starting breakouts) is just as good as the crisp passes and shots he’s getting at the offensive end.

--It obviously helps to play with guys like Crosby, Whitney and Evgeni Malkin, but where would the Penguins be without Sykora? Not just tonight but generally he’s been a monster, leading the team with 10 powerplay goals and 6 game winners on top of that.

--Marc-Andre Fleury deserves a lot of credit too. We've all been a little frustrated with him when he's been giving up early goals or somewhat weak goals, but he closed the door 27 out of 28 times, especially in the 3rd period when the Penguins were sitting on the lead and allowed too many good chances, as the 14-7 shot advantage for the T-bombs would suggest.

--We bet the only person who looks forward to playing against the Penguins more than Ilya Kovalchuk is Dany Heatley. The other "Kovy" has 18 goals and 15 assists in 26 career games against the Pens...Also at age 24 (25 in a couple months), doesn't it seem like Kovalchuk is already old? He's been in the NHL since our senior year of high school. And with young Russians like Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin in the league, as hard as it is to imagine but Kovalchuk is fading off of conciousness, it seems. Of course, if he played somewhere like Montreal or Detroit this probably wouldn't be the case.

--As nice as it was to get the win, the second game scratch in a row of Hal Gill and Alex Goligoski didn't make our house happy. However perhaps it should be noted one of the TST whipping boys, Phillipe Boucher, was on the ice for both power play goals. Then again, you could probably put Paris Hilton on skates and tell her not to hump anyone and the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Whitney and Sykora could work the puck around and score a goal or two.

--Hit machine Brooks Orpik was credited with 10 more deserving crunches last night. And the stick he caught in the face Monday night makes his face look even more creepy/intense.

--From the "Everything Can't Go Right Department" two "top-six" wingers didn't finish the game due to injury as Pascal Dupuis joined Fedotenko in the sick bay. Could this be a chance for the Penguins to give Chris Minard (26 goals in 30 AHL games) a chance to play on a top line in the NHL? True Minard only has 1 goal in 22 career NHL games, but when you're playing 7-8 minutes a night with the likes of Eric Godard, well that's what you get.

Now is as good a time as any to hit the road on what will be (according to the mileage) the second most taxing roadie left on the schedule this year. Nashville on Thursday, a matinee with Colorado Saturday and then back east to take on those dastardly Flyers on Tuesday.

Top 10 Penguins moments of 2008

Before some enterprising blog gets on it, we better run down a list of the top 10 Penguins moments of the calendar year 2008, like Peerless is doing for the Caps. The top moments of 2007 can be found here. You know, on the 2007 recap we said it would be hard to top that year, but a magical playoff run sure did the trick. If 2009 can one-up 2008 we’re in for some fun for sure.


#10 Sidney Crosby creates memories at the Winter Classic

The game itself was not too good: the idea of a Winter Classic is a made for TV gimmick, and under heavy snow and in bone trembling cold is not really the best way to showcase the skill and speed of hockey to a nation of casual New Years Day watching folks. But when you talk of gimmicks, you talk about the shootout, so what better way for the NHL than to have their poster boy with “the game on his stick”. And of course he buries it.

Also what may be the longest lasting aspect of this game: it really cemented the fact the Pens would bring back their retro blue jerseys in the years to come. And the blue jerseys have done well, in pretty much every ranking you see they take the prize for being the best alternate jersey in the league.



#9 Penguins win first Atlantic Division title in 10 years

The old marketing slogan “Experience the Evolution” could at this point be retired, because the Pens had figuratively crawled out of the slime of a 23 win season just two seasons before this point and now were the champs of arguably the most balanced and competitive division year in and year out in hockey. To win the division with all the injuries and adversity battled through was the mark of a team coming full circle, knowing their destiny and going out to grab it. Of course no one sets out only to win a division championship; it’s a nice banner but not the only one a team strives for.

#8 Ground broken on new arena

Getting the funding secured was the #1 story of 2007, but a couple guys with shovels makes #8 this season. With the economy in such turmoil as it is right now the Penguins timing was perfect in getting locked into their new home when they did. It’s hard to imagine things playing out the same way if they deferred another year.

#7 Evgeni Malkin signs identical contract to Sidney Crosby

One of the biggest questions going into the off-season was how Evgeni Malkin’s contract situation would play out. Sure, Geno would still be under contract for 2008-09, but summer 2008 was the first time the Penguins could talk extension with him. Many people wondered if Malkin would accept less money than Crosby and if the Penguins would be willing to offer Malkin more money than their captain, if the Russian so demanded. Some even dreamt up ridiculous trade rumors that had a few Pens fans nervous (not us though).

At the end of the day, Malkin decided that he would sign the exact same deal Sidney Crosby got, five years at $8.7 million a season ($43.5 million total). This was huge, it showed Malkin obviously liked Pittsburgh and wanted to be here and prevented any media fed rumors about Crosby or Malkin being unhappy/jealous with the paychecks of one another. By taking a fifth year Malkin also forfeited one year of his unrestricted free agency, and by accepting a yearly salary at a rate moderately under what he could have gotten as a RFA it allows the Penguins to spend a little more to round out the roster.


#6 Crosby gets injured, Malkin picks up banner, doesn’t look back

January 18th, 2008 could have signaled the death knell of the Penguins season when Sidney Crosby slid into the end boards and suffering a high ankle sprain that would hamper him really right until the end of the year. Crosby was the defending Art Ross, Hart and Pearson trophy winner and was leading the scoring race at the time of injury. For most teams it might have been an excuse to slump down the standings. For the Penguins and Evgeni Malkin it was just a challenge.

Malkin put up 54 points (24 goals, 30 assists) in the last 36 games after the Crosby injury, rocketing the Penguins up the charts and into the Stanley Cup playoffs with a dangerous mix of momentum and confidence.

#5 Redemption: Pens sweep Sens

Spring 2007 saw the Senators as a dangerous team and the Penguins as the new kid’s just cutting their teeth on playoff experience. Ottawa dished out a lesson to Pittsburgh that year, quickly disposing the Penguins in five games. Fast forward a year to April 2008 and the situations couldn’t have been more reversed. Even though Ottawa won the Eastern Conference in 2007 and started out the 07-08 season with a blistering 25-8-4 record, they were in full on collapse mode by the time the playoffs started, sliding in as the #7 seed.

The Penguins easily won Game 1 4-0 on the strength of Senator killer Gary Roberts’ two goals (the last goals he’d score as a Penguin, by the way). The Pens rallied back 5-3 to win Game 2 with two goals from Petr Sykora and Ryan Malone. The Sens did show some life in this game and took a lead, giving their fan base hope of being competitive when the series shifted to Ottawa for the next two games.

Going into the 3rd period of game three, the score was 1-0 Penguins. Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal scored goals in the opening 1:30 of the period and it deflated the Sens and their crowd.

With the chance for a sweep the Penguins didn’t let their foot off the Senators’ necks, winning 3-1 on an effort capped off by a Crosby empty net goal.


#4 Pens defeat Rangers, end Jagr’s NHL career

The Penguins had an eight day layoff between the first and second round and it showed. The Rangers jumped out to a 3-0 lead just three minutes into the second period of Game 1 Mellon Arena and the fans were stunned. But the Penguins rallied back with quick strikes: Jarkko Ruutu and Pascal Dupuis scored goals :14 seconds apart to cut the score to 3-2. Then in the third period Petr Sykora and Marian Hossa scored goals :20 seconds apart to give the Pens a 4-3 lead. Scott Gomez knotted the game at 4, but an Evgeni Malkin powerplay goal with under two minutes in regulation gave the Pens the win.

In Game 2 the Rangers, not wanting to get in shootouts with the high powered Pens, tried to play a lot more conservatively. But the Penguins proved they could buckle down defensively as well as anyone in the league, winning a 2-0 game (last goal an empty net). Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 26 shots thrown his way, while Henrik Lundqvist got 30 of 31.

Going to New York, the Penguins quickly jumped up 3-1 in the first period of Game 3 and then literally hung on for a 5-3 win. Fleury was sensational again, making 36 saves, while the Pens only had a total of 17 shots of their own. The Rangers though fought through when their backs were against the wall winning 3-0 in Game 4 on the strength of two goals by Jaromir Jagr (the second an empty netter) and 20 saves by Lundqvist.

In Game 5 the Penguins returned home and carried the play, badly outshooting the Rangers and had a 2-0 lead in the 3rd. NY would strike twice though and kick the game to over-time, as a last bit of life. 7 minutes into the overtime Marian Hossa scored the series clincher off a Crosby assists.


#3 Marian Hossa arrives, raises hell, leaves

Breaking this string of playoff recaps was a very important player for the Pens that stretch: Marian Hossa. In 2008 Hossa got a perfect situation coming to play with Sidney Crosby and scored 12 goals and 14 assists in 20 playoff games to forever banish his reputation of not being a playoff performer. Hossa’s superb skill made him a great winger and combination with Crosby, one that could have continued for many more years if the Slovak had accepted the Penguins long-term contract offer.

As you may have heard, however, it wasn’t to be. Hossa, who’s suffered through playing in Atlanta, was an unrestricted free agent and earned the right to go where he wanted to how long he wanted. He turned down the big bucks from Edmonton for a one-year deal from, of all places, Detroit. Saying he thought it gave him the best chance to win a Stanley Cup, Hossa turned his back on his new peers. It’s hard to argue his point as Detroit did just defeat Pittsburgh and wasn’t set to lose any key pieces for the 2008-09 season, but that didn’t make the wound hurt any less at the time.

The jury’s still out on if Hossa made the right decision and if his health will be in tact to still receive a long-term contract after this season, but we think as time progresses Pens fans will be able to remember and appreciate the run Hossa had in Pittsburgh. It may have lasted a total of 32 games and cost Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen and two prospects, but the trade was worth it. It gave the Penguins a shot and a mandate from management: just taking “the next step” is not enough, you guys are young but you need to believe you can go all the way any and every year.


#2 Orange Crushed: Pens destroy Philly, win Eastern Conference

As underdogs, the sixth seeded Flyers had gotten to the Eastern Conference finals by playing the Southeast Division champion Washington Capitals (beat them in 7 games) and the #1 seeded Montreal Canadiens (beat them in 5 games). Taking that road, especially a series win through a place like Montreal, really proves a battle tested team. The Pittsburgh/Philadelphia intense rivalry was on, a trip to the Stanley Cup finals loomed.

Game 1 was decided by Evgeni Malkin’s second goal of the night, a short-handed tally. The Penguins won game two by the same mark, 4-2, when Max Talbot scored the GWG in the 3rd. The series shifted to Philly but it was the Penguins who came out the gates strong, jumping up 2-0 in the opening frame and holding on to win the game 4-1.

For the third time in a row Pittsburgh was winning the series 3 games to 0, but the state sweep wasn’t to be, as the Flyers scored 3 goals in the first period of Game 4 and held off a two goal effort by Jordan Staal to win 4-2 after an empty netter. If Flyers fans thought their team making a massive comeback, they were sorely mistaken, as the Penguins completely dismantled the Flyers 6-0 in Game 5 back in Pittsburgh to win the Prince of Wales Trophy.

#1 Pens can’t equal Wings experience, lose in Cup finals


Not every story has a happy ending and this one didn’t for the Penguins. After getting through a conference about as easily as one can, they faced the very formidable and experienced Detroit Red Wings in the finals. Game 1 and 2 were a nightmare, Detroit won by a combined score of 7-0 and just sucked the life right out of a Penguins team with impressive puck control, Chris Osgood only had to make 41 saves in the first two games combined for his shutouts. At that point it seemed all but certain to be a short series, this time in the favor of the opposition.

But the Pens would battle back, Sidney Crosby was the first to puncture Osgood’s defenses, he did it twice in Game 3. Adam Hall added a third goal and then the Pens held off a furious Detroit rally to win Game 3 by the score of 3-2. In Game 4 Marian Hossa scored a goal 2:51 into the game, but Detroit’s captain Nicklas Lidstrom would answer a few minutes later. The score remained 1-1 until Jiri Hudler capped the scoring with a goal 2 minutes into the third period. Detroit now had a 3-1 series advantage and heading home they were determined to win the Cup.

The Penguins had other ideas, Hossa and Hall scored early goals, the first Pittsburgh had scored in the series on Detroit ice. Then the Red Wings roared back, scoring two goals in the second period and when Brian Rafalski scored a goal with about 10 minutes to go, catcalls for the Cup were in full volume. The clock kept ticking and it seemed the Penguins were going out with a whimper.

The Penguins pull their goalie for a final desperate push and then it happens. Boom—Maxime Talbot with 34 seconds left ties the game. The deflation of the crowd is tangible. The elation of the Pittsburgh players is off the charts. We’re headed to overtime. If the Red Wings were discouraged by Talbot’s goal, it didn’t last long; Detroit outshot the Pens 13-2 in the first over-time. Each time Marc-Andre Fleury had an answer. Shots in the 2nd OT were more even (8-7 for the Pens) but #1 defensemen Sergei Gonchar was injured and Ryan Whitney was playing about every other shift, and playing incredible. Then nine minutes into the 3rd overtime period Hudler takes a penalty. Gonchar does his Willis Reed impression and does more than just get back out there, he finds Evgeni Malkin. Malkin to Petr Sykora to the back of the net, the Penguins have just won the most thrilling and taxing game of the season.

Game 6 was back in Pittsburgh, but more of the same: Detroit outshooting the Pens and getting up to an early 2-0 lead. Malkin scored on a powerplay before the end of the second period to give the Pens hope that their hole was only one goal. The Red Wings clamped down again and eventual Conn Smythe winner Henrik Zetterberg scored to make it 3-1 with 13 minutes left in regulation. Again it went to full on desperation mode as the Pens hurled everything they had at Detroit. Gonchar scored a powerplay goal with just 1:30 left to make it 3-2. As the last seconds ticked off the Pens made what would be one final, final furious rush of trying to will a goal in but Crosby and Hossa’s last ditch effort trickled *just* wide as the horn blew.

That’s your series and the Red Wings skate the Cup on Mellon Arena ice. A tough scene to watch, to be sure, but even though the Penguins didn’t make it to the destination; the journey to get there was incredible. 2008 will be remembered for the incredible journey, the gaining momentum and the invaluable experience gained by the core of the team.

GOOSE, Pens Win

The Penguins still seemed to be stuck in a rut, they were badly outshot and didn't control a lot of the puck possession game. But, a win is a win and you take the two points any way you can get them, especially on the road against a good team.

• Something we forgot to mention in the Mellon Arena recap: Jordan Staal seemed to be really throwing some checks. Maybe it's just contract year encouragement, or maybe that the 20 year old is feeling more comfortable at the NHL level, but he's becoming a physical force in the corners and behind the net.
• Marc-Andre Fleury rebounded well from last game; the first goal took a bounce off Phillipe Boucher from point blank, the second goal Mark Eaton got caught flat footed at the blueline for an Ales Kotalik mini breakaway, and the third goal was a powerplay marker saw Boucher and Eaton soft in front of the net.
• See a trend there? Boucher, Eaton, Boucher and Eaton largely responsible for the goals against. When Ryan Whitney returns tomorrow we all should know the candidates to watch from the press box.
• Nice to see Pascal Dupuis back in the lineup, and he had good jump in his step, it appears the dreaded "lower body injury" isn't hindering him. And what a great breakout pass from Brooks Orpik to advance the puck up to Miroslav Satan for the Dupuis goal to catch the Sabres in a sloppy change.
• Evgeni Malkin's trek towards a 100 assist season is alive and well with three apples tonight. Geno is about 2.6 assists ahead of the pace....And just like that he's up to 58 points, 11 up on Sidney Crosby and 15 over Alex Ovechkin, his closest chasers in the scoring race.
• Crosby didn't particularly have a forceful game, it's seemed his been off his mark lately. The Trib noted he might have the cold or flu with a scratchy voice, and that would make sense, since his game just hasn't added up.
• Crosby was great in the faceoff circle, winning 70% of his 23 draws, it's a high standard he's held to, so maybe we all just need to take a step back.
• Was the goal over the cross-bar or not? Hard to tell, looked very close to being a non-goal, but at the same time the angles we saw would make it almost impossible to indisputably overturn the initial call on the ice (no matter what it was).
• Something that has been filtering through our head: tonight's GWG was Crosby's first of the season, and Malkin only has 1 GWG as well. Crosby does have some balance though, with 7 goals at home, 7 on the road, 7 against divisional foes and 7 against non-Atlantic teams.
• Last but not least of the bullets, Alex Goligoski, two goals and an assist tonight for a guy who's quickly got to be moving up the Calder Trophy list--especially when other leading contenders are eliminating themselves. You know if Goligoski was about half a foot taller and wearing a different jersey number one wouldn't be out of line to think Whitney had returned in midseason form a night early.

So that is that, an old fashioned bus ride down, two points in the ledger and now a quick turnaround to a home game against Pittsburgh South (aka Tampa) tomorrow night.

Malkin's push for 100 apples

Speaking of charts and paces, let's see how Evgeni Malkin is doing with assists. A while back we noticed how he was on pace to become the first player since 1990-91 when some schmuck named Wayne Gretzky to record 100 helpers in a season. Gretz got 122 that season...(In all fairness, it should probably be pointed out Joe Thornton notched 96 assists the year following the lockout).

(click on chart to enlarge)



We're not quite sure how user-friendly this turns out or whether it will make sense to everyone else, but we can tell you Malkin is on pace, he's largely been on pace ever since Game 6. Which is pretty remarkable considering the graph is rising at a constant rate of 1.21 assists every single game. It'll be interesting to see how long Malkin can answer the bell.

(Currently: Malkin 36 assists, Pace is 35.37 assists)

The Great Race...Malkin v. Crosby v. Ovechkin

Through 29 games a pop, here's early chart of game by game points for the the three amigos: Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. This goes off of a team's game, so if a player misses a game (like Ovechkin did to visit his grandfather) than obviously his amount of points remains stagnant for that game.

Out of curiosity, here's the same chart if you include Alex "Dead Wood" Semin. As Crosby can tell you, an longterm injury really derails your chances. All of Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin have seemed to have nagging injuries early in the season, but all have been able to trudge onward. Hopefully for the league's sake, they can keep it up.

Click on images to make them bigger. As you can tell, the lines have only advanced about 1/3 along the right axis, plenty of time left.

We'll update this again probably around the all-star break to see how things are going.

E. Staal: Malkin is the best

Nice to see a little respect thrown Malkin's way. Via ESPN:

Q: Who is the best player in the game today?

A: Right now I would say [Evgeni] Malkin. I think he's playing the game with so much confidence. He's making plays that not a lot of guys can make. They have a great 1-2 combo with [Sidney] Crosby and Malkin. On the power play they're lethal, and I think overall Malkin is playing the best in the league right now.

1 for 9 doesn't spell success

Tough loss tonight, playing without four of the top six defensemen on the team is tough, but not converting on the powerplay (1 for 9) was too much to overcome. Penguins fans love to try and call for Mike Yeo's head, but it's hard to argue the chances the Pens got. 12 shots on the powerplay, several of them great chances. Many more went just wide or were blocked. Tonight, Ryan Miller was awesome and he was the difference.

• It looked like "trick night" at the rink for Evgeni Malkin. A lot of crazy dekes and moves all around the ice, perhaps the best being pulling the puck between his legs, leaving a defenseman in the dust and throwing a perfect cross-ice pass to Ruslan Fedotenko for the game's first goal.
• Speaking of Rusty, the guy is nothing if not a very streaky goal scorer. When he's hot he's hot (remember the 12 goals he scored in 22 games to lead the Lightning to a Cup?)
• Janne Pesonen has his share of apologists...Err, supporters. But he's not an impact player at this level. Is he getting a ton of minutes or opportunities? No, he's not. However, what has he done? Absolutely nothing. He's generated nothing and looked lost. The cream rises to the top, even at getting 6-7 minutes a night if he was the real deal he'd be showing flashes of brilliance. He's shown nothing. He got six shifts and 2:55 tonight. But give Malkin 2:55 of time and he'll show something. Give Sidney Crosby 2:55 and he'll show something. That's tough competition to measure yourself against, but the bottom line is you have to show something. Pesonen, right now, has nothing to offer, whether he got 2:55, 12:55 or 22:55 it'd be hard to argue for him.
• Thought: if you didn't know this was Ben Lovejoy's first NHL game, could you have guessed it? Probably not, but you'd still think he was a rookie though. A couple times we noticed Jordan Staal making a conciseness effort to get back and help out. Lovejoy did get a "welcome to the NHL" moment when Paul Gaustad lined him up around the endboards with a thunderous (but clean) hit. Malkin, stepping up, checked Gaustad and then cross-checked another player.
• Nice to see the Penguins help Kris Letang get the monkey off his back by giving him a lot of powerplay goal....Still not a good night for the improvised Letang/Brooks Orpik top pair, as they were on the ice for four Buffalo goals, two off of Orpik turnovers, the other off a careless Miroslav Satan entry to the zone.
• When Max Talbot looks like a giant in a post whistle scrum, you know the opponent is tiny. Nathan Gerbe, listed at 5'6" (possibly with skates on) might be even smaller than Martin St. Louis. He's still a good player though.
• After going 1 for 7 on the powerplay through two periods you just couldn't feel good about the Pens chances, huh?
• As we alluded to at the top, Pittsburgh threw a lot at the net..The Pens got 54 shots on net, 32 on the target. Miller was huge in keep out what he could and it was enough.

The Pens looked a little sluggish last game, but that could be reasonably excused by playing three games in four nights in three different cities. But tonight began another stretch of four games in six nights (in three different barns). The road is going to be tougher before it becomes easier.

At the end of the day the finger pointing can go around. The Pens were sunk tonight not just by the inability to convert powerplay chances, but by sloppy turnovers. Orpik, Orpik and Satan made three plays that resulted in the puck being in the net. Letang and Dany Sabourin had chances to make great plays to cover the mistake but couldn't. At the end of the day the Pens just need to buckle down, make smarter decisions and better plays and execute. They didn't do it tonight, and the power-play couldn't cover that up this time.

It's a Malkin World...You're just living in it

Malkin bends in ways you're not supposed to bend

It was a heart stopping moment when Evgeni Malkin went down like he did in the picture above last game. He actually torqued back on that leg a little further before getting it out of that predicament. Add the fact that Malkin went into the boards too at that awkward fashion and it had flashes of Sidney Crosby's ankle injury all over it.

But somehow--maybe by being young, maybe by being a professional athlete and maybe with a little luck--Malkin would get up after a second and then instantly put the whole incident behind him. What looked like something that could have put his season in jeopardy just became another play.

Whew, and then sitting at home on the couch, you remember to breath again.

A win is a win, right?

In Casa De Hooks there is a new problem: the DVR is currently not recording shows...But up 5-0 with about five minutes left in the second, surely we could pull away from the hockey game to watch "The Office" and "30 Rock", right? We think the Penguins wanted to be somewhere else too that last frame as well.

--For the first 35 minutes the Pens played one of their best games; they were getting a lot of Edmonton's turnovers, cycling the puck well and putting a lot of shots on the goal. The skill wingers showed skill; Miroslav Satan scored the first goal between his legs and deflected another, Petr Sykora was quick enough to one-time a sudden puck won by Evgeni Malkin, then he deflected a Malkin shot (which was saved) and put the rebound by the battered goalie Mathieu Garon.
--The second 25 minutes the Pens showed they could just about give away everything they'd established. As mentioned, we were off in comedy-land for a while and thankfully were spared the high blood pressure of witnessing the meltdown. But a lot of the breakdowns (deflections here, giving up a shorthanded breakaway to a defensemen there) didn't look like too much fault could be placed on Marc-Andre Fleury. Maybe the 18 guys in front of him wanted to watch NBC comedies as well.
--Rough night for the 4th line (Matt Cooke-Mike Zigomanis-Eric Godard), they were each on the ice for two of the goals. 4th lines have to play "nothing against" because they're not generating much in the way of offense anyways. Being on the ice for two goals against, no matter the circumstances, is inexcusable for this trio.
--But we will give Godard his due, he rocked a young buck named Joey MacIntyre in a fight. Then when MacIntyre (who plays at 250+) totally flattened Kris Letang with a huge open ice hit--which looked clean except for the fact Letang passed the puck a full 2-3 seconds before getting trucked--Godard was there to remind Mac you can't do that. Thankfully Letang appears to be OK, but he was bleeding a little from the nose either from his visor or a stick.
--What a complete effort from Max Talbot; his first game of the year playing 20+ minutes, a short-handed goal to go along with 5 shots on net and a lot of hustle plays that the stat sheet can't record. With Talbot playing up there we think this is the best the first line has looked at even strength all season...And yes that includes the stint where Malkin played with Sidney Crosby.
--Malkin was a tour de force tonight, 3 assists, two of them were Ovechkin-esque (as in they were initially shots) but the play he made stepping around an Edmonton center immediately after the draw and firing a quick pass over to Sykora was a thing of beauty.

In the end winning 5-4 has just as much significance in the standings as winning 5-0. Hopefully the Penguins learn the bigger lesson on display for the night; that if you don't put in a 60 minute effort and try to coast in down the home stretch, you will pay. They've lost a couple games already when they were winning late into the game (Washington, at the Rangers) so you think that lesson would be learned. Whatever the case, a win is a win, now off to the Long Island for a matchup with the unimposing Islanders (4-8-1) in what could be a "trap game" before going to see our old friends in Detroit.

Scoring six times is fun...Pens win

The Penguins should try it more often. 1-2-1 for a west coast swing, not great by any means, but for all intents and purposes it's nice to put that behind us and just move on.

• As you'd expect from six different players scoring goals, nearly everyone on the roster had at least a point. In fact it's easier to write who didn't have a point; Rob Scuderi, Mike Zigomanis, Chris Minard, Janne Pesonen and Eric Godard
• Pesonen's debut was relatively inconspicuous, though he got some looks on Evgeni Malkin's line, Pesonen only played 9:52 of ice-time and didn't really do anything notable. Clearly HCMT doesn't trust him to be out there too much in a close game, which is only natural. It did look weird seeing a #20 out there that wasn't Colby Armstrong.
• The Max Talbot/Sid Crosby/Miro Satan line combined for 2 goals, 4 assists and a +8 rating. They were great out there. We love the addition of Talbot as a spot winger for Crosby; Talbot hustles, he digs out pucks, he's fast and defensively responsible. Plus he can finish every once in a while.
• Also, hopefully the Therrien routine of "let's put new skill wingers on the 3rd line to teach them how to play my system" that he pulled with Petr Sykora last season until December and was well on his way to using on Satan too is finished. Satan has six goals, only seven other Pens have 2+ goals. Leave him with Crosby, we implore you!
• Malkin runs his scoring streak up to eight consecutive games with his smash power-play goal and an assist. In fact, perhaps more impressively the only game all season Malkin hasn't recorded a point was the Oct 14th win over Philly. Malkin also, at least temporarily, takes over the lead in the league's point scoring race.
• Hidden stat of the night: every Penguin that took at least four draws won over 50% of them, led again by Zigomanis' 73% (8 for 11) evening.
• Big game from Tyler Kennedy too, who ended up getting the eventual game winner, an apple and his usual energy to the team. Nice to see him break off the snide of a long goal-less streak and get his first goal of the season in North America.
• With all the injuries everyone expected big things from Kris Letang, who's definitely been over-shadowed by fellow young defenseman Alex Goligoski. Goose is getting most the PP icetime with the top unit, but Letang is emerging as a solid all around defenseman. Paired on the top unit with Brooks Orpik tonight, check out Letang's stat-line: 25:28 played, 1 assist, +3, 1 shot, 6 hits, 4 blocked shots and a giveaway. Not flashy, but solid nonetheless.

The Pens are rewarded by the NHL schedule with a five day break. There's still some things to work on and a nice time for guys like Crosby, Sykora and Hal Gill to rest some bumps, bruises and fix teeth hanging by a thread. Also, perhaps guys like Ruslan Fedotenko and Pascal Dupuis will be able to return from their undisclosed injuries.

"We have no shots on the power play, this is awful!"

Kuklaskorner has a new voice that will supply Penguins information (direct link here), which really is way over-due considering they have focuses on teams like the Blue Jackets and Predators. It's Tony formely of MVN, so good luck to him, we're sure he'll be bringing it all year.

This post about Evgeni Malkin's frustration (via EMac) caught are eye. It’s always interesting to see people like Malkin, Jaromir Jagr and Alex Ovechkin give interviews in their native languages even though a little might be lost in the translation it shows their natural personalities better in a more comfortable situation.

Malkin will have his work cut out for him, he's been shuffled back to the 2nd line center position and will have his buddy Petr Sykora as well as one of the NHL's leading hitters per game, Matt Cooke, as linemates tonight.

Offensive eruption

Ohhh so THAT's what Ruslan Fedotenko looks like in a Pens jersey...

As we noted in the preview, Michael Leighton's been on his game as of late and it certainly showed for the

• Evgeni Malkin looked like a man against boys out there, circling the entire defense with the puck at points, firing five shots on goal. He was rewarded by the hockey gods at the end of the game to get his goal back to that was "stolen".
• Speaking of that, Sidney Crosby wasn't sure where his stick was in relation to the cross-bar, so he played it coy to the refs, not taking credit for the puck he clearly deflected. Savvy move there.
• Crosby is on a four game point streak in which he's scored 9 points...Not to be outdone, Malkin is also on a four game point streak which has seen him score 10 points...Anything you can do..
• Another typical Brooks Orpik statline: 22:40 icetime, +1, 5 hits, 5 blocked shots, 1 takeaway and 1 giveaway...Not too bad, eh?
• Too bad that lone innocent looking giveaway was a hideous misfire by Orpik on a pass that 18 year old Brandon Sutter took in for Carolina's lone goal.
• By the way, some intrepid person (won't be us) should compile a list of players who have scored their first career goal against the Pens over the past 2-3 years. It would be staggering. This sounds like something Seth would be good at..
• It was nice to see the much maligned second line of Ruslan Fedotenko-Jordan Staal-Petr Sykora all combine for some tic-tac-toe passing to slam the GWG home. Everytime you write Staal off as not a playmaker he'll pull a pass like that out of his hat.
• Michel Therrien better be careful....People could fall in love with the "3rd" line of Tyler Kennedy-Max Talbot-Miroslav Satan. They had a shift for the ages in the dying moments of the second, taking ownership of the puck down low. Could any 3rd line in the league boast the sheer speed, skill and determination of this trio? We doubt it.
• Marc-Andre Fleury was stellar again in net and was thisclose to scoring an empty net goal for himself. We have no problem with him shooting for the moon, so long as it's a 2 goal game.

So who thought the Pens would be 5-2-1 after eight games while missing Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney? Not many.

This neatly wraps up one segment of the season, the "Post-Stockholm Recovery" of having five of six at home...Now a new segment, a trip to New York to face the 6-2-1 Rangers and then three games out west. Tall challenges on the horizon for sure, but for now it's ok to sit back and enjoy the satisfaction of a two point night.

SABUUU....Pens win

Image courtesy of the Pensblog

Another night at the office huh?

New feature here for re-caps, three up/three down..


3 UP

1- Dany Sabourin: 35 saves on 36 shots and after giving up the opening goal in the gimmick he shuts the door for four straight attempts. The surprise starter--most had thought Marc-Andre Fleury would get the go-- but Dany Sabs did the trick and more.

2- Evgeni Malkin: Got the assist on the Penguins lone goal, led all Penguins forwards with 24:58 in icetime, had four shots on net and one hit....OK so he went 0-for on faceoff (on five draws) but a small decline. Plus the shootout deciding goal too.

3- Brooks Orpik: Tons of other candidates but we're going to give the nod to Orpik, who like most the defensive players did his job there-- with a game high five hits and four blocked shots and led everyone not named Zdeno Chara in ice-time with 26:32.

***Honorable mention***
--Max Talbot went 12 for 14 in the face off dot. That's worth at least a mention. As this Penguins team that's relied on almost exclusively young centers (Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Talbot, Jordan Staal) have aged in the past few years, it's been nice to see in action their numbers all gradually improve.


3 DOWN

3- Ruslan Fedotenko: OK maybe this is a little picky, Rusty only got 14:37 in even strength ice-time, 11 seconds of mop up power play. But what did he do with it? 1 shot on goal, 1 hit and 1 giveaway. This adds nicely with his 0 goals and 0 assists on the year in now seven games.

2- Eric Godard: Minor nit, but Godard is taking too many minor penalties. As it stands he's only going to be playing 6-7 minutes a night, so there's no reason he should be backing his team against the wall if possible.

1- Jordan Staal: Took the penalty that led to the Bruins only goal and took another one in over-time to negate a power play the Pens were on. Got 18:47 and only put two shots on the net, didn't produce any offense and was under 50% in the faceoff circle.

To be sure all of today's 'downers' didn't perform that poorly, but in most cases they didn't perform. It's hard to be find too much negative to work with when there's no goals against at even strength, a superb goaltending performance by the #2 and an exciting finish.